


In the Sunshine and Dirt

by aban_ataashi



Series: A Little Bit Of Sunlight (Desta's Story) [2]
Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23263504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aban_ataashi/pseuds/aban_ataashi
Summary: There are many things Desta doesn't like about the temple she lives in- but she does like the gardens.
Series: A Little Bit Of Sunlight (Desta's Story) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550872
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	In the Sunshine and Dirt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LunaRowena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaRowena/gifts).



> For the Sensory Prompt: Digging your fingers into fresh dirt

As Desta gets older, she starts to realize she doesn’t really like the temple.

It’s not so bad when she’s young, and the priests mostly ignore her. She has her reading lessons in the morning, using whatever prayer scrolls the abbess picks out for the day, but then she has the entire afternoon to explore and play outside.

But soon enough she’s deemed old enough to being _working_ at the temple, and it’s almost shocking how horrible she is at it. She’s hopeless at the holy magic the abbess tries to teach her, the stuffy records room just puts her to sleep, and she can only scrub the floors of the temple for so long before she starts to go mad. She can’t even go out with the hunting parties; they say she’s too loud and scares away all the game. In itself that doesn’t bother- she’s never been very fond of hunting to begin with- but it means more hours stuck inside memorizing scripture.

There is, however, one thing that she’s pretty good at- and that she actually likes doing. So whenever Desta can, she escapes to the gardens.

For all of the statues and murals dedicated to Galawain, the gardens are the only place in the temple that Desta really thinks are beautiful. Out here everything is bright and fresh and _alive,_ nothing like the stuffiness and harsh tones that permeate the temple. And even though they mostly grow practical things like vegetables there are always stubborn little things like daffodils and dandelions that bloom up anyway.

As soon as her lessons and other chores are done, Desta runs out to the gardens and drops to her knees in the fresh earth. She doesn’t pay much mind to the dirt on her robes- the abbess won’t mind, not if she tells her it happened while she was hard at work in the gardens.

Before she begins, Desta takes a moment to simply dig her hands into the earth. The soil is damp from the recent rain, and gives way easily under Desta’s hands. A bright smile lights up her face- the conditions are perfect for new plantings. Satisfied, she wipes her hands on her robes, picks up her spade, and gets to work.

When she is finally old enough to leave this place, these gardens might be the one thing she actually misses.


End file.
